


Aching Blood

by Yet_Another_Fanfic_Writer



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-27
Updated: 2016-08-27
Packaged: 2018-08-11 10:01:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7886809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yet_Another_Fanfic_Writer/pseuds/Yet_Another_Fanfic_Writer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Well, this is my first foray into the forbidden forest that is fanfiction, so I hope it is up to snuff.</p>
<p>The context of this fic is based upon Chapter 12 of Conquest, Bitter Intrigue. In my playthrough, I  was in the process of pairing off various couples at the suggestion of a friend, and she highlighted Odin & Elise as a good pairing. By chance, the random number goddess favoured Odin strongly in this mission, nearly all his attacks went critical and the mission was a success pretty much on the strength of that. I was subsequently challenged to put this into written words, so here we are. Hope you enjoy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Aching Blood

The camp was awash with activity that evening. The orders for attack had come in and all were preparing for the coming fight. Soldiers dashed to and fro in a frantic display of preparation whilst the camp auxiliaries assisted as best they could. One soldier in particular was running very hard, two long tendrils of scarlet hair billowing behind her as she crossed the camp in search of a certain blond haired dark mage.

Her quarry was ahead, a small group of children gathered around him, awestruck by another one of his very tall tales no doubt. He was already in full flow, going into insane detail about darkness and dragons all in a highly detailed world of his own making. She suppressed a slight smirk at that. He hadn’t changed, likely never would, and she had grown so used to it that part of her was glad for it. Still, the business of war beckoned, time to rein him in. Crossing her arms and fixing her best scowl in place, she cleared her throat loudly.

“Eh? Oh Selena! My moonborn comrade! Have you come to listen to this stirring tale too?” Odin ignored her expression, giving her his usual enthusiasm and elaborate gesticulations. Outwardly, she schooled her features to appear unmoved. Inwardly, perhaps she smiled at this familiar setting, one of the few things she still had from home.

“Enough of the tall tales, Odin. Lord Corrin wants you at the front. Now!” Grabbing his arm before he could even reply, Selena proceeded to drag him forcefully to the muster point.  
“Woah, woah! Slow down, Selena!” gasped Odin as he was only barely able to keep up, “What’s the big hurry? Why have you come to get me? Where is the Princess?”

Of course, Odin had been assigned to temporary bodyguard duty for Princess Elise whilst Arthur and Effie were recovering from their recent nuptials. The young princess had taken a shine to the eccentric dark mage, which was received with varying degrees of amusement and consternation by the rest of the army. Odin was due to be relieved of this duty, in fact, by the impending return of her original retainers. Then everything went to pot in very short order. Clearly no-one had told him all this.

“What?! Am I not good enough for you now?” Selena suddenly stopped and whirled round to glare at him. It was all Odin could do maintain his balance and not crash into her, and he really didn’t want to deal with another Selena flare up. “I hope you’re listening, because I’m only saying this once. Princess Elise is very ill and desperately needs medicine. Unfortunately, there’s a rowdy pack of Hoshidans between us and that medicine.”

“Wha?” Stunned by this revelation, Odin’s normal flowery speech utterly deserted him. Indeed, he seem to withdraw into himself utterly, barely even reacting when Selena rattled off the brief she had been given by Corrin and that they were to pair up for the coming fight and hardly even noticing when she took to punctuating her rant with vigorous pokes to his chest.   
Noticing that Odin had mentally drifted, Selena snapped her fingers in front of his face whilst yelling, “Hey! Pay attention! I… We need you to be at your best today! If I have to carry you through this battle you’ll be in huge trouble.”

“Oh, erm, sure. I’m ready” he stuttered his reply as the formation was drawn up. He could see the enemy in the distance but somehow it didn’t seem entirely real. Princess Elise was ill. At death’s door, no less. The very thought of Nohr’s most beloved scion, their beam of light in the darkness, being threatened so had him on edge. She was one of the few people who actually wanted to converse with him, to indulge in the flights of fancy that left many others bemused, irked or unnerved. He could feel his blood thrumming as he gripped his personalised thunder tome, Thor’s Revenge, so tightly that his bones started to ache. He barely noticed as Selena drew her sword and placed herself in front of him, hardly reacted as her gaze softened ever so slightly as she looked at him with a measure of concern. Soon, the trumpets sounded and the battle was joined.

Perhaps it was the lateness of the day, maybe the jars of unguents and elixirs suffusing the air with their potency or perhaps the sheer urgency of their mission. Whatever the cause, Odin soon found himself pushing in front of his partner, ignoring her protests as he blasted assorted samurai, spearmen and archers away. For once, and very noticeably to Selena, he never once bellowed attack names or declared ‘Level Up’ for any reason. Stoic silence was all he had this time as he watched his enemies scatter. The atmosphere around him crackled with power, every point of his finger bringing utter ruin to his chosen target. Before long he happened across a red-headed ninja. A distant part of his mind remembered that this was the brother of the one who had joined their cause, pledging his tricks to Lord Corrin. This red brother, though, was clearly pledging nothing but a dagger to the throat. Already he had held up a handful of their comrades and was looking close to collapse. “So much the better.” Odin thought to himself as the power coursed through him again and the ninja was casually cast aside like a weapon without a proper name.

Marching boldly on, he didn’t notice that Selena had stopped yelling at him, didn’t even flinch when she leapt forth to turn aside blows meant for him. Not even a worried glance and a terse, “You okay?” could rouse him from this state. The darkness had him utterly in its grasp. It demanded, nay, CRAVED restitution for this unspeakable act. How dare these Hoshidans hold their Princess’s health to ransom?! How very dare they! The demons whispered fell words into his mind and he felt his control slipping away as old nightmares resurfaced and the bellowing roar of that terrible dragon started ringing in his ears. He had already long left Selena behind. It was time to end this little game.

The warlord leading this band stood before him. Again, he distantly registered that this was the High Prince of Hoshido himself. He spoke but Odin heard nothing. The Hoshidans spoke greatly of honour and their skill at arms but, right now, Odin felt little more than enraged contempt for them. Honour? Hah! He knew Risen that had more honour than this. Summoning his final reserves of power, he strode forth into the fray and let loose a barrage of eldritch lightning, knocking the prince clean off his feet and sending his remaining troops scurrying for their lives. Still his power surged and the demons chattered ever louder. He felt like he was fading.   
A gloved hand on his arm brought him back to earth with a bump and he whipped round to see his partner holding him gently, looking up into his eyes, worry and fear writ all across her face. All at once, the darkness subsided and he felt a little light-headed. Fortunately, she quickly realised and held him up. It wouldn’t do for the hero of the hour to pass out at the apex of his glory.

Were he fully composed, he might have laughed and boldly proclaimed his status as chosen hero. As it was, all the congratulations and pats on the back passed him by. He didn’t notice Laslow’s gentle ribbing, Prince Leo’s slight nod of gratitude or even Arthur’s loud proclamation that he was a true agent of Justice. Hell, he didn’t even register the appreciative hug Princess Camilla gave him for giving her sister a chance for life, not even being pressed into the elder princess' considerable bosom could rouse him from his stupor.

Selena watched all this happen in surprise and no small amount of alarm. This was so unlike him it wasn’t even funny. What could have made him go off the track in such a, well, dramatically undramatic fashion. Waiting for the crowd to disperse, she moved quickly, grabbing the dazed mage and taking him back to his tent. Somehow she managed to get him to sit down and even accept a cup of some ghastly substance. Once he had finished spluttering at the unexpected potency of the drink, she started her interrogation.

“What the heck was all that?” she started a bit more harshly than she intended but at least she was getting through to him at long last.  
“Huh? What was what?” he replied groggily, as though suddenly woken from a deep slumber.  
“Don’t you give me that! You looked like a different person out there! Like you were back in the old place. Back when… You know what I mean! Only when things were really bad did you ever get so… serious. Only when you were prepared to fight to the death did you act like that!”  
He stopped at that and looked up at her. She looked angry, but then she nearly always did. Below the anger though, deep in her eyes where he had long ago learnt to find it, was the truth of the matter. Worry. She was worried about… him, maybe?  
“Selena. I’m… sorry.” He mumbled  
“What was that?”  
“I said I’m sorry. For worrying you I mean.” He spoke more clearly this time.  
“Damn right you should be sorry!” She promptly shrieked at him, “You were looking to get yourself killed out there! And who would have to explain to your mother why only two of us came back from here? Me! Gawds know that I couldn’t trust In… Laslow to do it. Also, what about all the others? How do you think they would feel if you had got it wrong and ended up skewered like some overzealous kebab?! Prince Leo would surely be upset, to say nothing of Princess Elise!”  
He stiffened at the mention of the princess but quickly controlled himself, hoping that Selena wouldn’t notice.  
“Hold up!” Selena demanded. No such luck then. “It was the Princess, wasn’t it? You were thinking… worried about her, weren’t you?”  
“Well, of course! We were chosen to protect the Royals of Nohr from all threats. My blood aches at the thought of even one of them being laid low by anything!” Odin leapt to his feet and started yelling back but, unfortunately, without much conviction and so Selena saw right through him.  
“Odin.” She spoke in a tone which promised a whole lot of misery if he didn’t give the correct answer. “I want you to give me the truth. Are you and the Princess… together?”

Odin sighed. He knew this moment would come sooner or later. Truly, he had felt a bond, of sorts, with Princess Elise ever since she so simply saw through his blustering and then, rather than trying to kick him whilst he was down like many others had done, encouraged him to talk that way some more. Soon, they had engaged in long discourses on fell topics, and many a night had passed where demons were vanquished to sounds of hearty giggling. He realised now that he truly enjoyed those talks, and the thought of his partner in darkness being taken from him was more than he could bear. He didn’t know what it was, exactly, but he knew that life without Elise was much less enjoyable now. She was so full of life, without a mean bone in her body but a cheeky mischievous streak was there if you knew to look. In truth, she reminded him of the mother he lost and found again in many ways.  
Selena caught the sigh and softened her tone a bit. “Look, you’re a grown man, hard though that may be to believe, so I’m not about to tell you what you can and cannot do.” Subconsciously, she ran her thumb over the hilt of her sword, brushing over a name carved into it a long time ago. A name that had always kept her safe. Now, she had to look out for its namesake too. “What you must understand though is, one day, we’ll all have to choose whether to stay or go back to where we came from. I don’t want to be the one telling our old friends of any liaisons of yours.” That last bit was accompanied by a sideward glance, which told Odin every hidden meaning in her words.  
“Fear not, gentle Selena. Odin Dark knows that his actions have consequence and so he will stride his darkened path with forethought and without fear or doubt.” He announced with probably more confidence than he truly felt but it was enough for now.  
“Well, I suppose you had better go see her then. I just know she’ll be asking for you before long. Just try not to do anything too stupid, alright?” Selena did her best to look dismissive but, again, her actions betrayed her words even as she moved to leave the tent.  
“Selena.” Odin’s word stopped her at the flap and she turned back to face him. “Thanks for looking out for me. I guess I owe you a shopping trip then?”  
“Hmph.” was the only response but he knew her well and he knew she was placated for now. “Don’t expect me to make a habit of this. All the shopping trips in the world are small payment for babysitting you and Laslow.” This last statement was prefaced with that rarely seen smile of hers, one he had often spent some time trying to coax out with varying degrees of success. Perhaps another attempt wouldn’t go amiss.  
“You know, I indulge in trifling matters like future readings and prophesising as well. When I parted the nightly veil on your future, I beheld a great vision. I saw a wolf and his young pup baying at a full moon, each with a rose the colour of midnight resting on their paws, while all around was a sea of great treasures. I do wonder what it could mean…”   
“Guh.” Rolling her eyes, Selena made her exasperation quite clear, though she was secretly pleased that he was back to normal. Well, normal for him at least. With that, she departed.

Odin slowly rose and pondered what had just happened. It was true that he had a special fondness for the young princess. However, he knew what idle chat there was going round. There were many in the camp who thought that he was a bad influence on her, that he was corrupting her and tainting her very spirit by his mere presence. This was mostly among the petty soldiery, never once had he heard Lord Leo or, gods forbid, the elder royal siblings talk about it. Then again, from what little he knew of the Nohrian court and its blood-soaked history, he supposed that they would have learnt very quickly how to still their tongues lest they wag too much. Still, there was talk, and he didn’t feel it was unfounded either. No-one could know his truth, and even if they did it wouldn’t matter anyway. Surely he was not worthy of a princesses attention.

The flap of his tent fluttering caught his attention and he beheld no less than his immediate master, Prince Leo standing there.  
“Ah, so here’s where the hero of the day is hiding. It is most unlike you to hide from adulation, Odin.” Leo spoke with a note of amusement in his voice.  
‘Milord, how can Odin Dark serve you?” Odin immediately bowed to the younger prince. “Do you have fell beings that need extinguishing?”  
“Well, you don’t seem to be too out of sorts, so I feel less guilty for asking this of you. My sister is awake now and she wishes to see you, of all people.” Leo missed the light wince this brought out of Odin as he continued, “Shall I inform her that you can visit or would you prefer to rest a while?”  
“I serve your family with every darkened drop of my blood, my prince!” Odin declared with great gusto. “If Princess Elise demands my presence, then I can do no less than grant it.”  
“Very well, I shall inform the palace guards. I trust you know the way” With that final, almost disinterested statement, Prince Leo left.

Sometime later, after much deliberation on his part, Odin arrived at the chambers where Princess Elise rested and knocked on the heavy, oaken door before him.  
“Who is it?” That sweet voice sounded weakened but no less cheerful. He suddenly felt a minor panic, as the whole set up seemed acutely inappropriate. Steeling himself, realising that keeping a princess waiting would be an even greater faux pas, he announced himself and was immediately given an enthusiastic invite to enter.  
A roaring fire kept the otherwise spartan room comfortably warm. A chair, table and bed were the sole pieces within the room, the latter of which was occupied by a very pale but broadly smiling Princess Elise.  
“Why, if it isn’t my dark hero.” Elise announced with a huge grin on her face. So, the others had told her… “Why don’t you sit down and regale me with your exploits and fell deeds?”  
Sitting by her bed as requested, he found himself relaxing more in her presence, coaxed on by the smile that never seemed to falter. Later, he would muse on how easy it was to be himself in her presence but, for now, he had her wishes to comply with.  
“Well,” he began, an enthused smile creeping onto his face too, “the darkness had its vice-like grip on us all. Only Odin Dark knew the key to victory…”


End file.
